GBJackson's One-shot Stories
by GBJackson
Summary: Occasionally, I get ideas for stories that can be wrapped up with one installment rather than presented in a series of chapters. So I figured I would keep them all in one place.
1. Nightmare!

**Nightmare!**

He soared through the air, black scales on black night sky, nearly invisible to the tiny two-legged angry beasts below, with their sharp blades and deadly rocks they hurled. He didn't really want to be here. Neither did the others of his kind, swooping in and grabbing food to be carried off to the Mountain. But they _had_ to be here, or it would all end very badly. He had a duty and like it or not he had to be about it.

Turning in the air at break-neck speed, he began his attack run, still unseen. His wings screamed through the air, causing the two-legs to scream in response. Two words that sent them scattering. Two words that he understood to be a name given to him.

Night Fury!

He used those shouted words as his signal. He unleashed his bright blue fireballs at the wooden thing that throws rocks, obliterating it, and then changed course to do the same thing to the next one. The two-legs would rebuild them. But he was determined to use his superior speed and fire-breathing abilities to defend his friends, so their harvest could be completed with fewer wounds inflicted. He was very precise as he turned the next wooden thing that throws rocks into splinters. None of the two-legs were killed, and any cuts or bruises they might have gained would come from them throwing themselves to the ground or falling into things. He would do what he could to destroy the things the two-legs used to hurt his friends...

...He began to remember...

He was not a murderer, though he had killed two-legs before. They were hurting his friend and needed to be stopped. He had tried to warn them off, but his appearance at her side seemed to only infuriate the two-legs even more, if that were possible. They threw a sharp stick and it stuck in Graycloud's throat. Her scream faded into a frightened squeak. The two-legs laughed and pointed. Blood poured from the wound in her throat. She squealed again, unable to stand. He loved her. He was about to lose her. Anger welled up and as the two-legs began to charge at him with the metal teeth they held in their hands, he snarled at them and burned them to ash with his whitefire.

He retracted his teeth and pulled the sharp stick free from Graycloud's throat. The blood was coming slower now. Her breathing ragged. They looked at each other.

"I'll kill them all for this," He had said to her.

"No," she told him. "I did this. I went after one of their young... As a distraction... A skinny thing... They came to its defense... I should have known better... Don't blame them... Forgive them... We should be sorry for what we do... Maybe... One day... They will say they are sorry... For what they do... Hope for it... For me..."

She had fought to get those words out, and then her breathing stopped, the blood stopped. Greycloud, the one he loved, was gone. But he would honor her plea. For her sake he would not take revenge. She was right. If it was not for the thing that made them do what they had to do, none of this would have happened. He hated what the two-legs did to his dear friend. But he hated the thing that made them do all of this even more. It is what really needed killing. But after this day he would do what he could to destroy the things the two-legs used to hurt his friends...

Something snapped him back to the here-and-now. Something wasn't right. He thought he heard a distant SNAP! And he had a sense of... something... coming towards him in the sky... Coming _fast_! He tried to change course, but it was too late. The thing, metal balls tied together with ropes, struck him in the side and wrapped around him. He had seen things like this, thrown by the two-legs. But no two-leg was strong enough to throw one this high into the air, across that much distance at that speed. But that mystery didn't matter. He was going down, his wings unable to extend or flap. The forest was rushing up to meet him. There were few things that scared him, but this experience of total loss of control terrified him.

The Trees! They reached up like sharp claws. And they felt like them as well. His tail caught in the top of a particularly gnarled tree, and a pain like he had never felt ripped through him. He was rolled over and over before colliding with another tree, which bent under his weight, bringing him to the ground. He slid in the cold earth, cutting a deep crevice. He was slowing, but not fast enough. He hit a small rise which threw him into the air again, and he struck the ground again and was rolled over and over again, finally coming to rest on his back.

He lay there panting in shock from the ordeal, and from the pain. Every inch of his body hurt. Miraculously, he didn't think he had broken any bones. Except for the thin ones in his left tail fin, which were not just broken, but gone, like the fin itself.

"My tail!" he roared as he began to thrash about. He couldn't stay on his back. Even as strong and deadly as he was, he would have less of a chance of survival if he stayed in such a vulnerable position. It took great effort, but he managed to turn over onto his side. But the metal balls tied together with ropes had tightened their grip further, and he could no longer move.

It was no use. He could not free himself. He hurt too much. He was too tired. He knew it would only be a matter of time before one of the two-legs found him and killed him. Only a matter of time before it was over. Only a matter of time before he and Graycloud would fly together once more. With that thought, he surrendered to exhaustion and let darkness wrap him in her sweet, gentle embrace...

He opened his eyes at the sound of a sweet voice calling his name, A voice he had been longing to hear. Graycloud's voice. He opened his eyes, and there she was, standing before him, looking more vital than he had ever remembered. More beautiful than he could have imagined.

"This is not the end, my love," she said, stretching her wings out triumphantly. "This is a new beginning for you, though you face difficult times."

He became aware that he was still bound.

"Even now, in this seemingly dark deed, The Creator of All has a great plan. Even now a Chosen One draws near. You must remember my words when we were parted. Remember. Keep them in your heart, and a glorious future awaits. Hope for it... For me..."

Graycloud reached forward with her right front paw and placed it on his shoulder. He closed his eyes. When he opened them, she was gone. But he still felt something pressing against his shoulder. And he heard the unmistakable noise of two-leg speech. The words didn't make much sense on their own, but there was something basic and understandable in the tone and even the mind of the speaker. It was talking about something fixing everything. Then it was going on about bringing down a mighty beast.

He tried to stand, but his bonds were too tight, so the best he could do was shift. The two-leg leaped back holding a tiny metal tooth in his hand. But it was shaking with fear.

_That's right, little one,_ he thought. _Be very afraid!_

He fixed the two-leg with a piercing stare. The truth was he was afraid, too. Earlier he was ready to give up, but his beloved Graycloud had come to him in what was clearly a dream. And she told him about a great and glorious future. Hope was rekindled, only to be facing a two-leg with a metal tooth, and unable to do anything about it. All he could do was stare into eyes filled with terror.

The two-leg stepped forward again, and raised its metal tooth above its head and spoke again. Something about killing him and taking his heart to its father. That it was a Viking. There was determination as well as fear in the two-leg's eyes. And now he, the magnificent creature the two-legs called a Night Fury succumbed to terror. _Not now... Not like this. Please Please not like this._

The two-leg faltered, staring into his eye. Was that pitty he saw in its eyes now? Sadness mixed with fear. Dare he hope for mercy from this skinny thing?

This skinny young two-leg... Was this the young thing that Graycloud went after before her death?

The determination in the two-leg's eyes was back, and it raised its metal tooth again, ready to plunge it into his heart. No... There was no hope. He was going to die. He closed his eyes, moaned and let his head sink to the ground, surrendering to the inevitable...

"I did this..."

He heard the words from the two-leg, and understood their meaning. Graycloud had spoken them as well to convince him that he should forgive the two-legs. Then he became aware of the two-leg's metal tooth biting not into his flesh, but into the bonds that held him. He felt them loosen. Felt them fall away from his legs and wings...

The tension of the moment had him running on pure adrenaline. As soon as he was free, instinct took over and he was on top of the two-leg in the blink of an eye, penning it against a boulder with his paw on its throat, staring angrily into its eyes. Eyes that seemed to scream "Not now... Not like this..."

"Hope for it... For me"

Graycloud's words seemed to echo in his mind...

NO! he roard into the two-leg's face. Then he lunged forward, and with a snap of his jaw, took the terrified two-leg's head off, blood gushing from its neck...

...And he jerked awake in the familiar darkness of the room he shared with Hiccup, his two-legged friend who had spared his life. His friend who was now sleeping peacefully in his bed. Toothless panted for a moment, the memory of his nightmare still fresh. Then he hopped over to the bedside and looked down at Hiccup to make sure he was okay. He laid his head down on the bed and crooned to the boy, who slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey, buddy," Said Hiccup in his usual gentle way. "Can't sleep?"

Toothless cocked his head to the side. He never understood this two-leg obsession with asking questions that were obviously self explanatory. But he was beginning to accept it.

Hiccup sat up, took his helmet off the bedpost and put it on...

"That's alright, buddy," Hiccup said, reaching over to pat his Night Fury friend on the nose. "I can't really sleep tonight, either."

Hiccup got up and walked over to the table and picked up Toothless' saddle.

"What do you think, bud?" He asked... "The stars are out. The moon is full. Let's fly..."

A few moments later, Dragon and Viking had taken to the air, soaring over Berk and looking down on the houses where the people slept in their beds, and their dragon friends slept nearby, at peace with each other and the world around them, with no fear and plenty of hope.

This was the future that Graycloud spoke of in the dream Toothless had the day he met Hiccup.

And it was, indeed, glorious...

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**I had this idea about Toothless dreaming that he kills Hiccup. I'm sure anyone who reads this has at some point had a dream where everything is going along relatively fine, and then some random thing happens that causes you to wake up in a cold sweat, praying that it wasn't true, and then sighing with relief when you realized that your subconscious mind had been playing tricks on you. I once dreamed I did something, I don't recall what, and it inadvertently killed my cat. I jerked awake, horrified, only to realize he was curled up at the end of the bed sleeping peacefully. I hate random dreams like that.**

**This is intended as a one-shot story. It is also sort of a prequel to my story series, "Jarin and the Riders of Berk". I have no idea where that is going to end up going. I'm just sort of writing it all as I go.**

**Thanks for reading... God bless...**


	2. Dad, Why Didn't You Tell Me?

_I neither own nor claim any rights to "How To Train Your Dragon"_

**GBJackson's One-shot Stories  
****Dad, Why Didn't You Tell Me?**

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**Hello, everyone...**

**Having seen the trailer for HTTYD2, with the apparent spoiler of the possibility that Hiccup's mother is indeed alive and he gets to meet her, I thought I would do a little hypothetical confrontation between Stoick and Hiccup, exploring the reasons why it wasn't even hinted at that his mother might still be alive. I doubt very seriously that this is the angle DreamWorks is taking in the actual movie. That's why this is fan fiction. So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you, "Dad, Why Didn't You Tell Me?"**

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Hiccup was furious with his father... All these years, Stoick the Vast – Chief of Berk, the one man Hiccup looked up to, even before his life-changing experience with training a Night Fury, winning the affection of Astrid Hofferson, and defeating the Red Death – Had kept the truth, that his mother was alive, from him.

With his latest ordeal behind him, and having returned home to Berk from his long journey, he was determined to get to the bottom of things.

Stoick had asked him over dinner what all he had seen and done while away. And hiccup told him. Stoick's expression darkened when he heard about Val. And there was nothing to disguise that disappointed gaze on Hiccup's face.

"Dad," hiccup asked in a tone that insisted that he would accept no answer but the truth. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Stoick Sighed. "I wanted to, son," he said, shaking his head, "I wanted to tell you after you woke up from that coma five years ago. But for the first time in our shared life, you and I were finally understanding each other. I was so proud of you. And you were happy that I was proud. I just couldn't risk losing the ground we had gained."

"As opposed to now," Hiccup said with his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Five years later and you've seen me handle some pretty intense reality, and you still couldn't be honest with me?"

Stoick shook his head. "I know, son. You're right. I should have told you. And you have a right to know why.

"It all started before you were born. Your mother and I were newly married. There was a dragon raid, and we had been fighting them off. At some point during the madness, Val disappeared. When it was over, I went looking for her, and I found her tending the wounds on a Monstrous Nightmare that we had brought down at the edge of town. We had wounded and dead, and she was _helping _one of the devils that had been responsible.

"I was furious, to say the least. I refused to talk to her for the better part of a month. Her routine never changed. And for her part, she was loving and kind. I was a yak's filthy backside. I couldn't go on like that, so I finally asked her what possessed her to do such a thing.

"She asked me why we never bothered to try to understand the dragons, beyond just how they can be fought and killed. It was a question I had no answer to. I told her that if she wanted to try to understand the beasts, she could bloody well do it out of my sight, and unless she learned new vulnerabilities that could help us fight them off with fewer injuries and deaths, I didn't want to know about it.

"After you were born, one night both you and your mother went missing. I had been away all day, working out the details of the treaty between the Hooligans and the Berserkers. I knew your mother often did her dragon stuff in the woods, and I figured she had taken you with her. So for the first time, I went to see what was going on. You have to understand, son. At the time, I held only hatred for dragons. When I got there, I saw your mother holding you out towards a dragon, a species I had never seen before or since.

"She claimed that all she was doing was introducing her friend to the future chief of Berk, a chief she would make sure learned to look at dragons in a new light. All I saw was her putting my son in danger, and I took her words as an insinuation that, as a chief, I was inadequate. In my fury, I took you from her arms and banished her from Berk.

"She just looked at me sadly, and told me that one day my stubborn hatred of dragons would lead to my undoing. Then she did something unthinkable. She climbed on the dragon's back, made a screeching sound, and the dragon took to the air and carried her away forever."

"I went into a rage. I twisted what had happened into a story about a dragon carrying her off, and that I had managed to save you but couldn't save her. For a few voyages to find the nest, looking for your mother was the purpose I declared. I couldn't bring myself to tell anyone that I had banished her, and that she simply chose to fly away on a dragon's back. No... In my stubbornness, I used her departure as an excuse to further feed my hatred of dragons."

Stoick sighed. "And then, fourteen years later, there you were in the arena, your hand extended towards that monstrous nightmare, and trying to tell us we didn't have to fight dragons anymore. The people were looking at me with confusion and doubt. And all the memories of your mother's words came screaming back to me. I knew she had been right. And I knew you were right. Bit I could not... No... I _would not_ allow myself to admit it. I disowned you and set sail for Helheim's Gate and didn't look back. My heart knew the truth. That twice I had thrown family aside in favor of pride. I was a fool."

For the first time Hiccup could remember, his father's expression bore complete remorse. He had carried the pain with him for nearly two decades, and now the truth was out. Hiccup nodded and rested his hand on his father's shoulder.

"When it mattered, Dad," he began, "You saw wisdom and acted on it. After the Red Death was defeated, you chose to see things as they really were. We were alone when you disowned me. And as far as I am concerned, when you told me that you were proud to call me your son, right after you saved Toothless from drowning, you began a new life. You let go of your hatred of dragons, and you welcomed them to Berk. And because of that, we have enjoyed five years of prosperity. I may have started the ball rolling, but Dad, you picked it up and ran with it."

Stoick smiled and took a deep calming breath. "I didn't want you to go exploring the world, because I had this feeling that if Val still lived, you would be the one to find her. And you would know the horrible truth I had been hiding from you. I was able to fix what I messed up with you, because you were still here. But Val was gone, and I knew she would not be back. I've never been able to get over my shame. I could not bear the thought of the truth coming between what you and I had gained. Again, more stubborn pride.

"It's alright, Dad," said Hiccup. "I forgive you. And I think that mom forgave you, too."

Stoick's shoulders slumped, as if for the first time in a long time, a great weight was lifted from them, and they no longer needed to hold it up. "Thank you, son."

"No problem," Hiccup said. "Just one thing..."

"What's that?" Stoick asked.

"Please tell me that you don't have any more secrets like that." Hiccup answered.

Stoick threw his head back and laughed mirthfully, and Hiccup joined in.

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**Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think. My next chapter of "Jarin and the Legacy of Nartara" will be posted either tonight or tomorrow night.**

**Be blessed...**


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